当组件是专门为此过程设计时，添加剂制造（AM）最好的优势就可以发挥作用。这个事实是众所周知的。但是，这方面与其他优化措施相结合，如何对成品组件的技术属性和成本产生积极影响，甚至对某些专家来说都是一个惊喜。
Fraunhofer Iapt使用跑车门铰链进行了重新设计项目，以逐步识别影响组件成本的因素。
Aided by a special software tool which in the meantime is commercially available at 3D Spark (a successful spin-off of Fraunhofer IAPT), the Fraunhofer engineers first identified a suitable component.
At a very early stage of the design, the experts then determined the cost-optimal orientation of the component in the 3D printing process. Using the optimized orientation, it was possible, for example, to minimize the number of support structures required while maximizing the number of components that could fit on a build platform. The thus identified component orientation leads to cost savings of 15% compared to an additive manufacturing process without such optimization.
在下一步中，使用添加剂制造的好处之一，以靶向方式优化了铰链臂的结构，因为它可以实现全新的组件几何形状。这使组件具有基本形状，仅包含模拟力流需要的材料。总的来说，这使门铰链臂的重量减少了35％。而且，由于材料要求减少和打印时间较短，因此成本与3D打印相比，没有结构优化的成本下降了20％。
Any support structure that does not have to be removed saves time and thus avoids part of the significant costs incurred in the highly manual post-processing phase. Reducing the number of support structures in the design also has a positive effect on production time and material requirements, which cuts costs again by 10%. Skillful selection of the optimum metal powder material from the increasingly broad portfolio of 3D printable materials makes it possible to lower costs by another 10%.
Adjusting the AM process parameters provides additional ways to reduce costs. For example, higher layer thickness during printing, optimization of process parameters, and deformation of the laser beam profile significantly reduces build time. Even though this results in a slight loss of part quality, (though still superior to that of cast parts), it enables printing costs to be reduced by a further 15%. Optimizing machine utilization by nesting and, if necessary, stacking in the build area, leads to further cost savings of 10%.
Summary of the results of the IAPT study: designing with additive manufacturing in mind and following a “Design to cost” approach throughout allowed the hinge arm to be manufactured at 80% less cost than a 3D printed part without the same optimizations. This overall percentage can be broken down as follows: Orientation and topology optimization as well as support optimization contribute 45%. Optimized material selection, speed parameters and workload maximization in the AM process reduce costs by a further 35%.
Fraunhofer IAPT能够证明添加剂制造成本降低了五倍是可行的。同时，该过程通过较低的重量和改进的光学元件来增加车辆的技术性能。然而，最重要的一点是，与传统的铣削相比，这使制造一小组铰链武器的成本可以减少50％。因此，在技术性能方面，增材制造不仅优于铣削，而且更具成本效益。
这项有关AM组件系统成本降低的研究结果可以应用于一系列汽车组件。他们证明，增材制造已经可以在最多5000辆的更大系列中可获利。
Fraunhofer IAPT
www.iapt.fraunhofer.de
Filed Under:Make Parts Fast
